Americans should be wary of even visiting Mexico

Forbes:

With beautiful beaches, stunning landscapes, historic ruins and a myriad of business opportunities, Mexico has so much to offer American vacationers and business travelers. Millions of Americans visit the country annually without incident, but, if you heed the most recent government warnings and data, you may want to think twice about heading south of the border.

Advisories released last month by the U.S. State Department tell Americans not to set foot in five Mexican states — Sinaloa, Colima, Michoacan, Guerrero and Tamaulipas — because of violent crime. Traveling to those states is as dangerous, according to the State Department's safety ratings, as traveling to Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. And Americans with plans to go to 11 other Mexican states should “reconsider,” the agency says.

Most recent State Department data may also cause travelers to pause before booking a trip to Mexico. In 2016, according to my analysis of the data, more Americans were reported killed by homicide in Mexico than the combined total of Americans killed by homicide in every other country abroad.
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Tamaulipas borders the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.  As a teen living down there, we used to go across the border to shop and have dinner.  It is not something I would do today.  The cartels control most of the state and "murder, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, extortion and sexual assault commonly occur" and you could also be caught in the crossfire of cartels fighting each other.

A resort area on the West Coast of Mexico where I have been also is now controlled by cartels.  People going to Cancun and other resorts have also been sickened by tainted liquor similar to the alleged problems in the Dominican Republic.  If you are looking for sun and sand on a beach I suggest you look at the American control St. John and St. Thomas, as well as the French and Dutch, controlled Saint Martin.  There are also some British controlled islands that are safe.